In general, laparoscopic surgery, unlike conventional open surgical procedures, refers to a surgical technique where four to six incisions about 0.5˜1.2 cm in size are made on the patient's abdomen, and trocars, which have a diameter of 0.5˜1.2 cm and are 15˜16 cm long, are placed through these incisions. A light source, a camera, and surgical instruments are then introduced into the abdomen through the trocars. The surgeon performs the procedure, watching a television monitor on which the camera transmits an image of the organs inside the abdomen.
Laparoscopic surgery is used for cholecystectomy, bile duct stone removal, hepatic duct stone removal, appendectomy, and removal of tumors in a variety of organs. Patients with laparoscopic surgery have much less pain, fewer complications such as enteroplegia, shorter hospital stay, rapid recovery, and less post-operative scarring compared to patients with open surgical procedures.
For laparoscopic surgery, after a plurality of trocars is placed into a patient's abdomen, carbon dioxide gas is used to inflate the abdomen through one of the trocars in order to give the surgeon room to work. The endoscope and surgical instruments are then introduced through other trocars. The surgeon performs a surgery for the affected area, monitoring the surgical site.
After the procedure, in order to close the incisions, a trocar site closure tool is used. The trocar site closure tool is configured such that the incisions are closed by stitching while the needle is held by the forceps that are placed into the abdominal cavity through the trocar. After closing the incisions, in order to prevent the stitches from being untied, opposite ends of the surgical suture are pulled out of the patient's body through the trocar, and the knots are tied outside the patient's body. After tying the knots, the knots are formed into the abdominal cavity by pushing the knots using a compressor.
However, the conventional trocar site closure tool for laparoscopic surgery described above is problematic in that when the surgical suture, which is pulled out through the incision along with the needle, is pulled using the forceps, the surgical suture may be easily cut by the pressure of the forceps.
Further, after stitching the incisions, to prevent the stitches from being untied, the knots are tied. When opposite ends of the surgical suture are pulled out of the patient's body in order to tie the knots, an additional instrument, such as forceps or pincette, is required.
As another related art, a fascial closure device is shown in FIG. 1.
The fascial closure device, which is in a tube shape for being introduced into a port site, includes: a tubular body 1 formed with needle guides 2 that face each other and guide insertion of a needle 3; and a pair of wings 5 being mounted to a lower portion of the tubular body 1, and being opened and closed using cam method, wherein each of the wings 5 is provided with a silicon pad 6 at a location where the needle 3 penetrates through, and the wings 5 are configured to be opened by rotating an operating stick 4 and configured to be closed by reversely rotating the operating stick 4.
The conventional fascial closure device solves a few of the above problems occurring in the related art. However, the fascial closure device is still problematic in the closure process. Reference will be made to the closure process using the conventional fascial closure device.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the needle 3 penetrates through a tissue along the guide path 2 by threading the surgical suture 7. Here, the needle 3 is placed on the silicon pad 6 of the wing 5. When the needle 3 is further pushed into the silicon pad 6, the needle tip penetrates therethrough. After that, when the needle 3 is pulled out, the surgical suture 7 remains compressed in the silicon pad 6.
After the surgical suture 7 is compressed in the silicon pad 6 of the wings 5, the needle 3 is removed. The operating stick 4 is then rotated so as to close the wings 5, whereby the compressed surgical suture 7 is concentrated around the axis of the tubular body 1. When the tubular body 1 is withdrawn, the surgical suture 7 is pulled out and tied, whereby the closure is completed.
However, the conventional fascial closure device is problematic in that the suture area is easily infected by the surgical suture that is placed thereon during the recovery because the surgical suture, which penetrates through a tissue around the port site, is pulled out of a patient's body through the port.
Further, the conventional fascial closure device requires cutting the surgical suture into a predetermined length and threading the needle with the surgical suture. Thus, the procedure is inconvenient. The conventional fascial closure device is further problematic in that when the binding force of the silicon pad to the surgical suture becomes weak, it is difficult to pull out the surgical suture, thereby requiring additional work.
Further, in the process of threading the surgical suture in the needle, a surgeon or a nurse may be stuck or infected by the needle. In the process of closing a plurality of ports, the above mentioned problems occur repeatedly, whereby the operation time may be long.